Auction Record Keeping
Some simple auction record keeping will be needed if you decide to make buying and selling at auctions a home business. I personally believe that until you are making over $500.00 per month a very simplified auction record keeping system will do. Some people start right out getting themselves a separate bank account but I believe that once you make $100.00, you then take that $100.00 and go open a separate account.
Once you make your first $100.00 and see how easy it was, then you are a true believer and ready to go! And putting your first $100.00 in the bank is very exciting! If you are going to be ordering products from a wholesaler that requires a sales tax number, then go ahead and apply for that too. But remember, if you purchase products without paying taxes, you must file at the end of the year and collect the sales tax from your customers. Basic auction record keeping is knowing your expenses and income. If you know computer programs that will keep your records then of course go ahead and use them, but they are not necessary when starting off. To get started with basic auction record keeping take twelve business size envelopes and label them January through December of what ever year you are in. Now get a spiral notebook or pad with columns and make a page for the current month. I don't make the next months pages until I get to it because you don't know how many pages each month is going to take. The envelopes are to put all your receipts in. If you purchase somethiing from ebay to resell, print out your paypal page and fold and put it in the envelope. Or if you buy supplies at the office depot, put the receipts in there. Don't forget if you shop at flea markets or garage sales for products to put a handwritten receipt in the envelope. You will need to buy a receipt pad and fill these out yourself. At the end of each month, total up all the receipts and put the total for the month on the front of the envelope. The notebook is for two functions. On the first page of each month I start keeping a record of everythiing I sold with details. For instance, if I sold a figurine I bought from A1 Products, I would write down what I sold, where I bought it and what it sold for. This way I have a running tally of my income (before expenses) and I see what is my best sellers. I also print out every online sale from ebay because it has the high bidder information in case I need to contact them, but this is not necessary if you keep good records. On the last page of the month you can take the final monthly sales and then get the amount off your envelope of expenses and substract it and you will have your net profit for the month. Here is a little extra step if you choose to do it. You can buy the large manilla envelopes that are big enough for letter size paper and store each month that way. For instance, instead of using the small business envelopes for your expenses, go ahead and get these large ones. Putting your expenses in them will not take all the room, so at the end of the month tear out the pages for that month from your notebook and put them in the same envelope as your expenses. This way at the end of the month, all your auction business is in one big envelope. You can even put the expenses and profit on the front for a quick glance at income tax time. All that is left is to file the big envelope in the file cabinet and you are ready for the next month! Since I know everyone doesn't like to do things the same way I have an alternate resource for your. Go to Ezine Articles and in their page search box type in the words "home business record keeping". You will get a ton of articles with ways to keep home business records. Return from Auction Record Keeping to Home Page
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